Funeral services will be held today for a diminutive LAPD anti-gang detective who recently died after a 7-year-battle with cancer.

Services for Janine Manji, a 13-year LAPD veteran who died April 13, will be held at 10 a.m. at the Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo, south of downtown Los Angeles. The mourners are expected to include Deputy Chief Terry Hara, Commanding Officer of the West Bureau; Captain Eric Davis, Commanding Officer of the Wilshire Station; and Wilshire area detectives and patrol officers.

Born and raised in Sacramento, Manji graduated from UCLA as a double major in psychology and business in 1990. She joined the Los Angeles Police department on Aug. 7, 1995, starting at the North Hollywood Station and later transferring to the Wilshire Station, where she was promoted to the rank of detective in 2005. "She quickly became the team leader in the Gang Enforcement Detail, leading uniformed officers into the dark and gang infested streets of Los Angeles,'' according to an LAPD statement.

"Although small and petite, Janine's big heart and commitment allowed her to capture and put away many members of the most violent and notorious street gangs in Los Angeles.'' Manji was nationally recognized as a gang expert and assisted various local, state and federal agencies in the identification and capture of wanted fugitives for such crimes as theft, robbery, assault, extortion and murder.

At the age of 35, Manji was diagnosed with cancer, but after receiving treatments, she appeared to remain cancer free for the next few years. The cancer returned in Dec. 2007, and, "although visibly weak, weary, and often in unbearable pain, Janine continued to contribute greatly as a detective assigned to Gang Impact Team,'' according to the LAPD.